The present invention relates to wireless electronic data control and transfer and more specifically to uses and applications of near field communications.
With the decreased cost of flat panel/flat screen televisions/monitors having quality images, there has been corresponding increase in the use of these monitors for marketing and sales. As opposed to fixed images of conventional light boxes and print advertisements, the content displayed on the monitors is relatively easily changed. Additionally, the displayed content can include music and video. For at least these reasons, monitors are quickly replacing the use of conventional light boxes and print advertisements.
These monitors are connected to display systems that are programmed to publish—display or broadcast, content—i.e., images, video, audio or other media; the display system can be, for example, a dedicated computer which may be either a standalone system or networked to a local or wide area network and the Internet. Typically, the programming takes place in advance of the display of the images. The displayed content can be either a single image or multiple images. If the displayed content is multiple images, then typically the system is programmed to display the multiples images in a predefined way; for example displaying each image for a period of time, using a defined transition between images, and then transiting between images for a period of time.
In another approach, a user of the monitor can use a controller to control the display of content. If the controller is a remote control unit then a user can use the remote control to control the display be problematic—it may in need of power (e.g., batteries worn down) or more importantly, the remote control may be missing or not located near the monitor. If the controller is a touch screen display, then this would be counter intuitive, as the use of touch screen displays significantly drives up the cost of the monitor.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a controller that is relatively easy accessible to a user, but not costly.